Manufacturer: Vivitar
Model: VDF 7
Price: £60
www.vivitar.co.uk

With its Vivitar badge emblazoned across the front and its lightweight plastic finish the VDF7 isn’t likely to win many prizes in the design stakes, but the price is definitely right.

On the style front, the Vivitar isn’t ugly, but the finish isn’t as good as many other frames on the market, with the definite suggestion that it’s been built to a budget. This is echoed by the screen, and while the 7in LCD offers a reasonable viewing angle the low resolution leaves a lot to be desired. For a start the text in the menus is hard to read, and even from several feet away images aren’t exactly sharp.

Continuing the rudimentary theme there’s no movie or music playback options, but most bewildering is the fact that the 16:9 ratio frame can only be stood in landscape orientation on a desk, or mounted horizontally on the wall – if you want it upright you’ll have to find a way of doing so for yourself. In short, the VDF7 is about as basic as a digital photo frame can get, but then the price should have told you that…

Screen Size: 7in diagonal (16:9 ratio)
Resolution: 480 x 234 pixels
Internal Memory: No
Card slots: CF / SD (1Gb max.)
Picture format: JPEG
Movie format: No
Music format: No
Wall mountable: Yes (Landscape only)
Free-standing: Yes (Landscape only)
Remote control: No
Power: Mains only

Verdict:
Inexpensive it might be, but it’s also a bit rough round the edges

Pros:
Reasonable viewing angle, price

Cons:
Finish, low-resolution screen, landscape’ orientation only

What Digital Camera Score: 73%